Carnival says Triumph will arrive in Mobile tonight

The damaged Carnival Triumph, which is being tugged to Mobile, Ala., after an engine fire left the ship without electricity and propulsion, will arrive in port Thursday night.

Terry Thornton, Carnival Cruise Lines' senior vice president of marketing, speaking during a press briefing in Mobile on Thursday morning, said the ship was close to a sea buoy that would mark a seven- to 10-hour trip through the channel to the port of Mobile.

Thornton said that provisions and a small generator had been delivered to the Triumph, and the generator was being used to provide hot meals to passengers. "The ship is in excellent condition" as far as food provisioning is concerned, he said.

He did not address other conditions onboard the ship during the briefing, although he did dispel a rumor that a fatality had occurred onboard.

Thornton said about 200 Carnival staffers are in Mobile to assist passengers.

Thornton also described the logistics of moving passengers off the Triumph.

Passengers had been given two options, he said. They could board a coach to New Orleans and overnight in a hotel, then take a chartered flight to Houston. Or they could board a coach bound directly for Houston or Galveston, where the ship had initially departed.